Ms Rudd, speaking when she was first given the job of work and pensions secretary in November last year, said she would listen “very carefully” to concerns over universal credit and admitted the system “can be better”.

She added that she would “learn from errors” and “adjust” the system, which she said had problems, where needed.

The government has agreed on several occasions to slow the pace at which universal credit is extended across the UK.

Ms Rudd’s predecessor, Esther McVey, announced that claimants will be given more time to switch to the new benefit and they would not have to wait as long for their money.

And in the 2018 Autumn Budget last month, Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged an extra £1bn over five years to help those moving to the new payments and a £1,000 increase in the amount people can earn before losing benefits, at a cost of up to £1.7bn a year.

What is universal credit?

Universal credit is a benefit for working-age people.

It replaces six benefits – income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, housing benefit, child tax credit and working tax credit – and merges them into one payment:

It was designed to make claiming benefits simpler.

A single universal credit payment is paid directly into claimants’ bank accounts to cover the benefits for which they are eligible.

Claimants then have to pay costs such as rent out of their universal credit payment (though there is a provision for people who are in rent arrears or have difficulty managing their money to have their rent paid directly to their landlord).